6 Bad Internet Marketing Habits You Need To Quit In 2017

Being well-versed in any area of expertise requires a lot of hard work, dedication and patience. Excellence doesn’t come overnight, nor does the understanding of what are you best at, in fact, this can take years to figure out. Success depends on many things, but cultivating good and productive habits is one of the most important aspects of it and this goes for both your personal and working habits.

To excel in the field of internet marketing, one of the first things to learn is that creating habits in the sense that you do one and the same thing over and over again won’t be very productive. World Wide Web is an ever-changing landscape where rules don’t apply for long, which is why you should do your best to always be familiar with most current events. As the New Year approaches, it is time to start thinking what is still serving us and what we need to ditch to become better and leave room for improvement. We have put our heads together and thought of six bad internet marketing habits you need to quit in 2017 in order to stay at the top of your game.

1. It’s Pay To Play In 2017

The times of using internet and social media as a free marketing tool is gone and you better believe it. If you want for your business or page to become popular, you will need to invest more than time into it, funds will be necessary. Everything that can be done is being done to prevent your posts and updates to reach your followers, and we’ve got social media algorithms to thank for that.

It doesn’t surprise much that social media has developed effective mechanisms in order to control marketing on them, and only when you pay a certain amount of money will the algorithms be wrangled down. It is time to make peace that if you want to reach as many (future) followers as possible, you’ll have to pay to play. The good news is that you won’t have to pay as much as you would on a standard marketing campaign in other media, which comforting. A word of caution though – set a definite budget on how much you want to spend on internet marketing each month, otherwise you risk spending much more than you’ve planned.

2. Security Is No Joke

The rise of cyber criminal is becoming overwhelming, and you need to do all you can to protect both you and your followers/clients from this menace. Many people neglect the possibility of having your account hacked and using it for spamming and other malevolent intentions, but the reality of this threat is ever present.

In 2017, we can expect that black-hat hackers will only be faster and more prepared to bypass whatever obstacle we throw their way. Thankfully, we’re far from being helpless and unprotected, and the best thing we can do is take precautions before anything happens. Precautionary measures are the best way to secure yourself in every aspect of your life, and if you’ve turned your internet marketing abilities into a business, then you need to protect it. Getting a strong antivirus program is the foundation of everything, and you’ll probably want to pay for the premium version because it comes with a lot of additional perks that constantly improve upon your security. If you want you IP to stay hidden, or you want to get around geo-blocking, virtual private networks are at your disposal. There are many trustworthy VPNs out there and you can try them out sometimes free of charge – download Express VPN if you want to see how it can improve your internet experience. Having a virtual private network will be beneficial for you in all levels of security, not just when it comes to protecting your social media.

3. Your Site Needs To Be Mobile Friendly Or Else…

Nobody is impressed by PCs anymore, we all live in the world of mobile technology now. This means that if you want to be the best that you can, your website will have to have its mobile-friendly version.

With millions of people using mobile devices to search and find things on the go, you can be sure that the internet is adapting quickly to meet their needs. This is not news, because 2016 was definitely in the sign of “mobile everything” and this trend will only continue in the future. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, the moment when a potential client comes across it and sees that it’s not working right on his/her smartphone, you can be sure they’ll click back and look for another site that isn’t problematic to handle. What’s more, Google without a fault penalizes websites that aren’t mobile friendly, so even from that point of view, having a mobile friendly website is a necessity.

4. You Can’t Always Go With The Flow

While it will be beneficial for your internet marketing skills to leave some wiggle room for innovation and surprising new trends, it’s important to have some structure nonetheless. For any work it’s important to have some sort of plan, even if it means that in time that plan will significantly change from what it initially was.

Leading internet marketing campaign has its highs and lows, but it’s very important for you to have in mind what you want to achieve, in how much time and with how much money. It is tricky finding a balance between having a good plan and not sticking to it too firmly, but this balance comes with experience. Once you understand your targeted audience, know what message you’re trying to send to the world and what your ultimate goal is, it will be much easier to comprehend how to get to that goal. This is no small amount of work and research, but marketing campaign could make or break your brand, business, blog or whatever it is you’re trying to get out there.

5. Don’t Neglect The Power Of Influencers

One of the ways that works well for building your name in social media is creating a community around your brand. The whole point of running marketing campaigns on social networks should be to practically form a club of people who respect your work and influencers can be of great help here.

Influencers are people in a certain niche that have already acquired a formidable amount of followers and created a community. An influencer is the center of this community and they’re the ones you want to reach for help. Connecting with influencers can be of great help for you and your brand as long as you do your research and go into it seriously. They are running a business and so are you, which means it’s important for the both parties to have some benefit from this partnership. Be sure you have something to offer in return when contacting influencers, as that will show that you’re serious in your requests and are willing to reciprocate with cooperation at any time.

6. Don’t Forget About Latest Trends

Many have predicted, but at the close of 2016 we can finally confirm – this has been the year of the video. With so many people going live from doing something exciting in their lives, you could do the same to attract more followers.

Videos are the future and this will only be more evident in 2017. Going live on Facebook can be one of the great ways to attract more attention to your page and hone your internet marketing skills by trying out what goes well with your followers. Also, Snapchat has entered the social media game very seriously in 2016, so getting a profile there might not be a bad idea either. It all depends on what you are trying to bring into the light of the internet and choosing the right networks from which you can do that.

Bad habits aren’t that difficult to shake in the world of internet marketing, especially if you know how much you can benefit from changing your ways. The key to being successful in this job is to always find ways to be ingeniously interesting without pestering your clients and followers, which can be challenging. Don’t be afraid to innovate and create new boundaries while keeping the strong foundations and your internet marketing feats will be successful. – By Adam Ferraresi

Author Bio:
Adam was always passionate about many things, but his strongest suit remain web development and digital security. He was intrigued by the World Wide Web since he started using it, which is why decided to earn his living through exploring it. Along with his web interests came writing about topics that are relevant to him and to his surprise, he became quite good at it. So good in fact, that now he writes regularly for wefollowtech.com. In his free time, he likes to take long walks through Dallas and play guitar whenever the chance arises.